Boxing: David Nyika to face China’s Wuzhati Nuerlang in December bout in Australia

David Nyika, pictured ahead of his fight against Nik Charalampous in July, has his next fight booked for December. Photo / Alyse Wright

Kiwi cruiserweight boxer David Nyika is scheduled to fight China’s Wuzhati Nuerlang next month.

The event is set to take place on December 13 in the former world title challenger’s new hometown of Gatton, Queensland.

Nyika is back on the rise after his knockout world title loss to Australian Jai Opetaia for the IBF World Cruiserweight title in January this year.

However, Nyika had an impressive performance in July, defeating New Zealand veteran Nikolas Charalampous.

Nyika is currently in a good position in the rankings, ranked seventh in the IBF standings, eighth by the WBO and 30th on Boxrec’s calculations.

This means that with the right opponent and the right titles on the line, the 30-year-old could be four fights away from competing for a world title again, possibly as soon as 2027.

Originally from Hamilton, the Olympic bronze medallist is now living the rural life in Gatton, where he raises chickens in his backyard and trains with veteran boxing trainer Noel Thornberry.

Thornberry will promote Nyika’s next fight as he aims to keep him busy and get him to rise in the ranks.

It is unknown if the fight will be for a regional title, however it is expected that a title of some sort will be on the line, as this helps raise boxers in the rankings.

The fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Nyika’s opponent Nuerlang, 29, began his career in 2015 as a light heavyweight.

In the past, he fluctuated between super middleweight and light heavyweight, but recently he has fought in cruiserweight and heavyweight classes.

Nuerlang has had some decent fights in the past, defeating boxers such as WBA-PABA champion Bordin Peepueh, Indonesian veteran Alexander Bajawa, who had over 51 fights’ experience with more than 40 wins, and Tanzanian veteran Said Mbelw, who has fought more than 80 times.

Nuerlang also won the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Super Middleweight title in 2017, which gives him a major credential.

He is no stranger to New Zealand boxers. He previously fought Coromandel boxer Francis Waitai for the WBO Oriental Light Heavyweight title, which ended in a split-decision draw.

Nyika comes into this fight as the hot favourite, with Boxrec predicting him to win the fight with a 96% chance.

Another Waikato boxer living in Australia who will be watching the fight closely is Floyd Masson.

The former Te Awamutu local wants to fight Nyika in an epic homecoming fight.

While fans are keen on this bout, it is unknown if it will ever happen, as Nyika might have other plans. He seems to have his eye on Swedish boxer Robin Sirwan Safar and a world title elimination fight.

On social media, Nyika commented under a post of Safar’s: “Me next?”

Safar replied: “No offence, but I’m not trying to go backwards, I’m tryna [sic] get a title. But if you can make it back up to the top, I definitely give you what you want.”

Nyika commented: “Congrats, let’s make a world title eliminator happen”.

Safar just came off an excellent win in America against Derick Miller jnr and is expected to get a large rankings boost.

Currently, he is ranked fifth by the WBO, eighth by the IBF and 10th on Boxrec.

Benjamin Watt is a retired boxing judge and New Zealand boxing writer with a decade of experience. Watt has also been BoxRec’s New Zealand record-keeper since 2014.